lilchaz

Based on the Miranda Priestly from the film but I’ve taken her family history from the book and altered it slightly.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and never will

Enjoy. Let me know what you think of it!

Hope comes in all different shapes and sizes

Everyone at Elias Clarke and Runway had noticed a change in Miranda Priestly. She was much quieter, calmer and seemed to appreciate the effort people put into things, but when someone did something wrong she lashed out viciously, as if she didn’t understand hwy they would jeopardise any chance they may have to make the most of every opportunity.

2 months earlier

She stood in the pouring rain, keeping her veneer exterior even though there were tears dripping down her face. She never thought she’d regret leaving home so much. She was in London, at a graveside for her youngest sister’s funeral. She hadn’t known Deborah that long, she was born after she had left home and moved to America, and in the end it had been Deborah who had flown from the UK to the US to get to know Miranda. They’d gotten on like house on fire, got close and then she died. It had been a blood disorder that had been left undetected for too long.

Miranda lifted her head and looked around at the other people at the graveside. There was quite a number considering her sister had only been 29. No one particularly stood out, except on girl. She was standing directly opposite Miranda. Her eyes were blotchy and red, mascara was streaked down her face. Her clothes weren’t up to par, it was the usual, simple cheap suit; black skirt, white blouse and a badly fitted jacket, she had no umbrella so was soaked to the skin, her hair clingy to her face like rags; but despite it all she still managed to look painstrickenly stunning. She was called Charlotte and had been Deborah’s best friend. Miranda had heard that she had been a high flier, but since Deborah’s death she seemed to have just fallen apart, lost her hold on everything and her world had fallen down around her. Just like Miranda's had; not that she’d ever let it show.

After the funeral Miranda didn’t stay at the reception for too long, she was fed up of hearing “Oh, so you’re back then?” and “You gonna stick around this time?”

She was just about to walk out of the door when she heard, “Was just putting the kettle on, want one?” Miranda turned around to see Charlotte, kettle and tea bags in hand. She smiled and shook her head softly, “Sorry. I was just leaving. My plane leaves in 2 hours and I haven’t packed yet.” Charlotte nodded understandingly, “If you ever want anything, I dunno, talk or something, give me a ring…I mean only if you want to…” Miranda looked at her, her discomfort apparent, “Thank you, but I don’t think I will.”

She turned, uneasily, and left the house, leaving Charlotte standing in her wake, shaking her head with a little smile on her face.

(Back to now)

It was the night of the benefit and Miranda was panicking, nothing was going to plan. The seating order had gone awry and there were new people to meet and greet tonight who had suddenly RSVPed to say they were coming after all. Miranda was constantly shouting out orders and it was Emily and Lindsey (the new assistant who replaced Andy) who had to take the brunt of it. Finally Miranda left to go and get ready and the assistants were left in peace to finish preparing the evening before they themselves had to go and prepare for their evening, especially quick because they had to be there before Miranda arrived.

8.00 pm – time for the benefit to begin.

Miranda descended the stairs in her usual cloud of elegance and glory. She walked around making the usual ‘Hello’ and ‘I hope enjoy the evening’ small talk that everyone expects from her on these sorts of occasions. That’s when she saw her. She was standing over by the drinks table talking and laughing with Irv. She looked, quite simply, breathtaking. She wore a floor length pale low-cut turquoise gown that clung to her small, shapely frame, accentuating her curves and femininity. Her hair was straight but with a small amount of light ringlets spaced cleverly around her hair. She wore teardrop dangly earrings and a large diamond pendant. Miranda looked on, strangely confused as to why she would be here, here of all places. She turned slowly to Emily and gestured discreetly over to her “Who is she?” Emily looked round to see who she was talking about and smiled, “That Charlotte Dubois. Her she works for Elias-Clarke along side Irv Ravitz. Her dad is one of the major share holders of Elias-Clarke.” All Miranda did was cock her eyebrow and look away. Gone was the cheap suit, tear streaked face and the rat’s tail hair. Standing in front of her was the highflier sitting atop of daddy’s money.

As she circulated the room it was inevitable that Miranda would sooner or alter come face to face with Charlotte Dubois. So when it did finally happen she wasn’t expecting what got. In the end it was Irv Ravitz who introduced them.

“Miranda, I would like you to meet Miss Dubois. She recently joined Elias-Clarke and is working in my department with me. Charlotte, this is Miranda Priestly, Runway’s Editor in Chief. But I bet you already know all about her don’t you” he finished with a small laugh

“Hi Miranda, it’s good to see you again. How have you been?”

Miranda looked her up and down, as if sizing her up. “I’m fine thanks, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well…to be fair, you didn’t look quite yourself after the funeral.”

“And I’m trying to decide whether this is you, or whether the tatty little girl standing by Deborah’s graveside was really you.”

Charlotte eyes suddenly lit up and she let out a small, but extremely genuine laugh leaving Miranda to look at her, slightly confused. “Sorry. It’s just Debs used to tell me all these stories about how you made her sides split with all your catty remarks, especially when she came to visit you in the office and you’d say something you thought was out of earshot to one of your assistants about how abysmally someone was dressed, or wondering to yourself whether someone else had lost all their pregnancy weight yet, even though it was literally two days after they’d given birth. She thought it was hilarious.”  She looked up at Miranda, a small smile still on her face to find Miranda looking at her with an uncomfortable look on her face. She looked away, “Sorry I just thought you might find it funny too…I guess not…I’ll catch you later...or something…” She trailed off turning and walking away before Miranda could say anything.

Miranda turned to Irv who was eyeing her up curiously, “Irv, why is she working at Elias-Clarke? Surely you can find someone to work for you who isn’t solely hired because their dad owns part of Elias-Clarke or something of the sort?”

Irv looked at Miranda the pity evident in his eyes, but the pity wasn’t directed at her. “She’s only working for me on her dad’s recommendations because she quite her last job and refused to get another because some friend died or something. To be perfectly honest she’s the best at what she does. She’s never lost anything, from a small settlement negotiation to getting who she wants for the event that she wants them to do.  Her dad told her to come at work with me because he was scared about her, scared what she might do when no one was looking. Don’t let on that I told you, but he thinks she still might be suicidal. She tried to kill herself shortly after her friend’s death, drugs overdose. Her dad thinks she might do it again if she has time to let her mind wander. He told her by taking this job she would be doing a massive favour for him, that he really needed her to do it etc etc so she, rather reluctantly, agreed. For some reason she’s been looking forward to tonight, I guess it’s a chance to meet people. An opportunity to grasp with both hands or something. To be perfectly honest I think that the only time I’ve seen her genuinely happy in the past month was when she was talking to you. No idea why though. Anyway, I need to go and talk to some people. Enjoy your evening.”

As Irv walked away Miranda looked curiously over at where Charlotte was standing. There was no longer the spark of anticipation or excitement in her eye like the one she’d seen earlier. In fact there was no spark at all; it was as if her light had been switched off. She looked totally void of all emotion, except sadness and a hint of disappointment.

Miranda started to walked towards her, ignoring people’s greeting and waving a hand in the direction of whoever was talking to her, to tell them to go away.

“You really miss her don’t you?”

Charlotte hardly acknowledged Miranda’s arrival and her reply was so quiet Miranda had to strain to hear it, “That’s the understatement of the year.”

“I’m staying here tonight, I guess if you still want that ‘talk’ you mentioned at the funeral you could pop up. I’m in the Juniper Suite on the 7^th floor.”

When Charlotte looked up with a small smile on her face Miranda had already walked off, no doubt to avoid a sincere thanks and those situations which she always seemed to find so uncomfortable. Charlotte’s smile widened, she hadn’t smiled properly in months and it felt good to finally have reason to. Even if that reason was her best friend’s older sister. Never mind, Deborah had approved of some right psychos, surely she would approved of her own sister.

Smiling softly she turned around and began to network again. Surely there must be some juicy gossip to catch up on.